SINGAPORE – Veteran local Hokkien singer David Chia has died at the age of 73 on Jan 8.
His daughter Lindy Chia told Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao that her father had been hospitalised during the Christmas period and was discharged on Dec 31, after which he went on a cruise.
But David Chia suddenly collapsed due to a cerebral haemorrhage at about 3am on Jan 2 while the cruise ship was sailing near Melaka.
“Due to the emergency, a connecting boat took my father from the cruise ship to a hospital in Melaka on shore,” Ms Chia, 49, told Zaobao. “My younger brother was with him at the time, and I immediately arranged for an ambulance to take him from the Melaka hospital back to Singapore overnight.”
She added that Chia was not in a good condition after being admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, with tubes inserted all over his body.
“He had been struggling for many days and the family braced themselves for the worst,” she said. “He suddenly got out of bed on Jan 6 and walked around, but that night, his breathing became laboured. He suffered from severe pulmonary edema and was in agony, constantly trying to pull out the tubes. The moment he took his last breath was peaceful and serene. We didn’t want him to suffer.”
